Eistnaflug.is 2017, Nordfjordurfjord Wednesday July 5th – Saturday July 8th feat. Bloodbath
Going to Iceland has been somewhat of a dream ever since I visited Norway. Of Iceland it’s said that it’s even more beautiful than Norway, even less crowded and even more expensive. I’d been talking to Daniel about this since we wanted another Bloodbath show, but Daniel chose Metal Days instead. At that time I had already set my mind on Iceland, the glaciers, the rock formations, whale safari, Reykjavik and so on, booked my own ticket when I got to hear there were some Germans willing to share a hotel during the festival. For once I booked sober (…) but still in stages: ticket: check. Flights: check. Bed and Breakfast for the week in between flights: check. Cancel one domestic flight: check. I didn’t want to spend another 800 km in a car, beautiful country or not. I’d hire a car after the festival, travel the North route in three days, visit Reykjavik and fly to Amsterdam again. That one domestic flight was only € 33, got that booked back to my CC in a matter of hours. To me it would be senseless to drive the North route to Reykjavik and head back to Egilsstadir just to catch the domestic flight.. of an hour… Having seen Bloodbath on NDF made me shiver a bit, as the band wasn’t top notch then and apart from Neurosis there wasn’t one single known band on the festival bill… Oh well, another new experience: I’d be alone for at least five days, with only a laptop, a car, a wallet and good will to accompany me. Later on some more bands got announced like Atari Teenage Riot *yay!*, The Dillinger Escape Plan *nay!* ,Max & Iggor Return to Roots *okay!* and The Monolith Deathcult *nederlanday!*
Kathe had heard I’d go to Iceland and instantly put me in connection to Jasmin and Dirk, who’d be happy to share a hotel during the festival! Cool! It seems I know Jasmin a lot better than I expected, as we’d met at 70K and on RockHard! Great! But, packing stuff, arranging transport from airport to hotel to festival, I noticed something I had not expected nor seen before: I’d fly from Amsterdam to Kevlavik (international airport) and then from Reykjavik DOM (‘Domestic’
) to Egilsstadir! There’s 50 km in between! How the fffk do I get from one airport to the other? That turned out to be less of a problem than expected, as Icelanders are used to travel. A bus was already waiting. But the bus wasn’t the end at at all. Two drivers kept squabbling about who’d take me and my postal bag, I had pushed it in and out at least four times; leaving others waiting in wonder. The domestic airport was an ieniemienie one, even smaller than Lelykstad but the first beer was shed (Gull) and fried cod was tasty. Oh yeah, beer is bjór in Icelandic. On both flights I sat in chair 16A
. From Egilsstadir to Lyngás Guesthouse was only a five minute drive, but the (old) doof clearly hadn’t had coffee the following morning and drove to some idiot hotel halfway the bush! 47 km into Iceland! Costs of the taxi not a mere 1,400 ISK, but reaching 13,000 ISK. It took until the actual hotel to make him understand I needed to be at Egilsstadir Airport!
At 9 AM!
He charged me 5,000 ISK… The bus ride to Neskaupstadur couldn’t be more smooth after that ^^. The bus driver even invited me to a little festival of his own on Friday, having 5 bands in his father in law’s house. He said he couldn’t tell the name of the biggest band, as it seemed to be one of Iceland’s most popular bands, it had to be a surprise.
Coming to the hotel gave another frightening sight: the room where I was supposed to sleep, doesn’t get dark! At all! At the hotel lobby they cursed their own climate, so to say, but I still don’t get sleep. I had a rotten night to begin with, even though the Víking beer was pretty good. Talk about expensive beers… 1,100 ISK for a pint, that’s nearly € 11. But no worries. ‘I am herrieman, the metalhead that doesn’t care about his hard earned cash. At all’ I noticed two of my pockets on both a denim and a pair of shorts were no longer shutting properly, so the first thing in Neskaupstadur I bought was a bunch of needles, thread and two buttons and the first round of beers for the company. Needle & thread, how metal
First drinks are on me again
What I didn’t know, was that the Egils beer is considered the worst beer on Iceland, but so be it. We’d meet on the terrain, I left the key at the reception and wandered through the pittoresk village, enjoying the sun the mountains and the gathering of the first metalheads near the wrist band office. The doof behind the counter had not noticed she’d already scanned my ticket, so I had to grumble something like ‘I didn’t travel a day a half not to get entered’ and got the band. The Boli beer was a lot better, the first band would appear in some half hour… World Narcosis plays atmospheric black metal, dividing vocals between four members, all shouting as hard as they can. The female bass player had the most vile vocal parts of the band
Within half an hour I’d had it, but no worries. Cult of Lilith came soon, they can’t choose between metalcore and black metal. Let’s eat, the combination sausage – rice – goo was pretty good! Eating I met German Pestilence-fans Fabian and Daniel, had I not seen Daniel in a band once? Yeah, he does, he’s in Hailstone and I get a CD as thank you for showing up in Munich. Munich? Yeah, Fabian had seen me too, inviting me to the next edition of Dark Easter Metal Meeting, as he lives near Backstage! More cheers and beers followed, as an Icelandic man named Thor *cool* showed me a picture of him with Infidel Ed Amsterdam, instantly FB’ing him and getting the marvelous comment: ‘Herman the Legend’
We ended up at Fabian’s camper, sharing Austrian and Munich beers until Fabian’s favorite band of the day got to stage: ONI. I liked the first songs, but seeing Fabian’s face tempered that quite a lot. He said he was disappointed, the band could do a lot better, sharper, whatever. Nice to see Johnny Hedlund has a bass playing brother, Chuck Schuldiner has a guitar player as son, but after a while they bored me. More Austrian beers, we headed back to the camper, just to be sure we’d see Anaal Nathrakh. I can’t help it, this band is pure noise to me, even though it’s great to see the audience do appreciate it. I waited for Neurosis anyway, as I’d been to quite some festivals with this band on it, but never got to see them. Cause: booze. Probably. I won’t do much effort to get to see them again, as the drone – keys – stoner – death pissed me off. First day of the festival is over, but as there’s 23 hours of sunlight these days, I’m confused and can’t find the hotel. When I did, I found the door locked and I slept outside until Jasmin found me… Cold but happy I duck under my blanket and pass out.
A dreamless night followed and the breakfast is welcome. I had a head like a spanner was bashed in, but the Icelandic bread and cheese do wonders to my body. We tried some of the Icelandic bands through YT, but with these names it’s hard to recall. We got some more groceries and tried, each on his/her own tempo, to get to the venue. First band I got to see was Kælan Mikla, a three-woman piece of shit without drums, without guitars, without talent, without precision and without any reaction from us. If you try to imitate Melt Banana, you’d better bring in some energy. Happily, Une Misère was on next. They resemble Chimaira in their best days, coupled with some stoner sound and VOLUME!!! Holy fffk, what was that loud. Daniel and Fabian freaked out, there was some two man pit as well, but Fabian soon knew those last bands were not of my liking
. So, Austrian beers again. On my way to an ATM I got past the second venue called The Bait Shack, pizzeria with a truck as second stage. I got Exile, heavy, cool, loud, stoner and seventies-like rock. I hung around for a great Gamba pizza and wandered back. Coming to the festival area I heard Ways to the Grave… uhm, is there a Bloodbath cover being played? NO, IT IS BLOODBATH!!! With those strange long days I’d totally forgotten about what band was going to play where, so I only got about half a Bloodbath show. It was amazing. Period. Nick Holmes didn’t screw up, the band was brutal as ever, tight as a guillotine, hitting like the falling axe through everybody’s necks like butter. I got these songs:
- Ways to the Grave
- Cancer of the Soul
- Anne
- Like Fire (GOOOSSSSEEE BUMPSSSSS!!)
- Eaten
What a beautiful revenge for that PartySan show! It was great! It was cool! It was loud as a concrete mixer without lubricants
That is a fact worth mentioning, as I found out one day later. I’d missed quite a few bands all week, but not by ignoring the volume. For a fact, I think I’ve seen/heard the heaviest, loudest, blinding show ever the following morning. The band? The Monolith Deathcult. The Dutch Transformers-influenced intro-laden death metal hurt to the ears and the guts, as it was so loud, including some (to me) unwanted peaks in an already loud set that I had to hold myself to the bars to keep standing. Oh yeah, back to tonight, after Bloodbath there was some two more bands, but I can’t find the correct symbols to display the band (both Icelandic) and having gotten a key of my own, I got in nice and safely and totally forgot to write anything. OK, Friday started with a delicious Dory-prepared *blush* chili and The Monolith Deathcult. I am not easily scared by volume, but this was ridiculous. Later on I talked to their bass player Robin and guitarist Michiel, they just smiled at my remark of fear I was bummed a bit for cutting short the delicious chili but with only one Dutch band on a festival, I had to Dutch Denimize myself of course.
So, again, thanks Dory! On my way back to the hotel I spotted the third stage, of which the bus driver had told me. I think I will never know how the band was called, but it was a happy Icelandic punk rock invasion, garden style. Garden as in
- shed in the garden
- garden equipment for airguitaring
- garden full of unknown or unknowing visitors
The weather was so beautiful I got back to the hotel for my sunglasses and shirt-changeover. I returned to the venue for 200,000 Naglbìtar as we’d checked on YT. YT was OK, live they’re a Kindergarten Green Day Imitation, Icelandic lyrics and all. Some three girls freaked out, I didn’t even last one entire song. I got back to the hotel again, thinking of women in metal and beyond, I needed to empty my head a bit and did the dishes. Thanks for this great tip dad! Super Cor.
I was replenished and headed out to the Bait Shack again. I thought I could use some Deströyer 666 but got blues instead! The band played a well powered Neil Young song and one Jimi Hendrix tune and they’re finished already. The band did get an Angus-on-Brian’s shoulder thank you from the guys from At Breakpoint. Later I found out the band name was Premium. I'd missed At Breakpoint but I kept running int the band members all festival
.Within minutes Alcoholia got to the truck stage and they’re in for a party! No talent, just fun and great covers: War Pigs, The Trooper, Helter Skelter, Bomber, Seek & Destroy and Killed by Death. The line up of the performing band changed every song, even Dory comforted me. Had I known then what I know now, I would never have fallen for her drunken gibberish… so there’s the full head again… But, I got thanked by other band members for being their back up vocalist
.I went to the main stage for Max & Iggor Return to Roots. I am prejudiced of course, but having Schizophrenia as favorite Sepultura album when the Roots setting is played is plain dumb. I couldn’t enjoy it and left after two or three songs. Jasmin later showed me it WAS fun after all, Iceland totally freaked out when the band played Ace of Spades and, of course, Roots Bloody Roots. I also missed Skàlmöld, as I’ve missed more than 25 bands all weekend. Skàlmöld is the main attraction for the Icelanders, seeing how many shirts of the Official Fan Club were around all fest. I got back in when Atari Teenage Riot tried to fire up Neskaupstadur. I kept comparing it to Melt Banana, which I liked a great deal more. Now Dory got me angry, simply walking away with another man. Like said, I should have known better, story of my life. Bed time… [what I later heard I will not duplicate, as Dory and me talked just before entering the bus to Egilsstadir. Noted.]
The last day of the festival started with a knot in my guts, a feeling of hunger or despair so I kept to coffee for longer than I expected. What I got was some boring as fuck too funny Icelandic punkrock at the Bait Shack. I was more lucky in the main venue, where Asyllex got to stage. This was MY band of the festival, as the first song was powerful thrash metal, exactly halfway Persecution Mania and Eternal Ban!! \m/ Bang your head MOFU! Their second song was started by the best sounding piece of baritone bass and it was a wonderful song called Child of War. The latter songs bore a bit of a speedrock feel. I should have bought the CD, but was a bit pranky about the price: Icelandic price for a CD is 2,500 ISK and for a demo-like CD I thought that was too much. Fool herrieman!! Last song was Civilization in Peril, also thrashy as fffk!
Next band today was Future Figment, but that didn’t last long. The band played some doom/sto ner like music, but with metalcore-ish vocals. Ughhh. Back to the hotel, have a nice metal chat with Dirk, Christine and Jasmin; Lemmy all around
in both ways
. Dory was asleep, I had heard her come to the hotel near 8 AM… First people I ran into were the men from The Monolith Deathcult. On stage they might appear to have some ego/arrogance, but off stage it’s plain fun. Singer Robin soon found out I do write about people I meet, sometimes fishing for quotes, doing it exactly my wrong way: he spotted a man with an overtly sharp line in his hair and said ‘With that haircut you look like Hitler’, of which the man responded “And proud of it” *shock* . I got to thank the Asyllex guys but still haven’t bought the CD.. The first three bands I spotted afterwards were all a joke in their own way. Icelandic bands Ham and Dimma both have played at least five times on Eistnaflug, but none of my liking. The third joke was The Dillinger Escape Plan. Nuff said. Of these three bands I conclude, in different ways to each band:
- false singing
- guitars wrongly tuned
- too much or too little bass
- sound kut.
I was getting fed up with all the non-metal stuff this festival had, but wanted to see why Sòlstafir was on so many shirts and denims: the Icelandic folk metallers made a little party, got a great sound and a thankful crowd. I backed out and will state here: Iceland is beautiful, but I won’t return to Eistnaflug. Not bothered by the fact I missed some 40 bands these four days, I simply need more metal in my festival and not the Icelandic way of ‘having fun on stage’ apart from a few really fun bands that I got to see. In hindsight I think I ordered too soon, Bloodbath did deliver, Asyllex was worth it. The rest: too much mediocrity, apart from TMDC of course.
Still, it wasn’t all bull. I met some great guys, being invited to the next edition of Dark Easter Metal Meeting was great and I got even to Dory. No harm done, nothing personal left.
We take the 2 PM bus to Egilsstadir and our journeys go different paths. After a while I will post the rest of the trip, solitude or not
Added: X5452: Everything you're describing in this review is what I was dreading, not enough metal, weird vibe (guy being grateful to be called hitler) and food mostly consisting of fish.
If I ever go to Iceland it'll be for Reykjavik Deathfest or a vacation without any metal.
But Ive found theres a Bangcock Deathfest, purposely written that way. I wanna explore Asia a lot more than Nordic countries.
Herrie: so far I'd only had cod on Egilsstadir airport
, Dory's chili was vegatarian, though. The rest is going haywire due to one stupid logistic problem. The check in for the kro in Akureyri was from some 11 AM to 7 PM, but I missed that due to the shuttle bus. Had I just got up at 8 and had the 8.15 bus I'd never have a mess like now. The 14.15 bus was too late too. Add weird circumstances renting the car (normally you can have a car in some 10 minutes, now it took an hour). Add a detour to the village Dimmuborgir which was double the distance I had calculated, I got to Akureyri around 10 in the evening, no kro reception to be found. So I started calling (should have started way before, of course, but I had no idea how long it would take from Dimmuborgir to Akureyri) I think I left my phone on the car and hit the throttle. I got to some eleven hotels, appartments or B&B's, all full for one: the worst one was a pricetag of half a million ISK (!) even without breakfast. I decided to try to find a bit of a hidden spot to park in the shades, as there's no 23 hour sunlight a day, but still 24... I felt never safe to park or it wasn't even permitted, so I hit the route and headed out for Keflavik, see how far I'd get. At first the damned Garmin GPS wouldn't add Keflavik, then the street wasn't found, then the number didn't match... I stopped four times, trying to relax or to sleep, none. Driving through Iceland is a beautiful ride, but as the road swerves you can't see it all of course. It was the middle of the night, but even then I found tractors and harvesters driving the main road 1, so you can't drive everything on cruise control. It was 5 in the morning when I got to one cool vent though: a 24/7 Sub! Ahh, need to remember that. I did sleep some 3 hours before I could enter the B&B and finally shower. I just had no head in it on Sunday, so I was dead tired, dirty ànd thirsty. The B&B lady was as friendly as she could/should be, she explained whale watch boat trips to be just outsided the corner. I then noticed I'd probably lost my beloved Nokia 6310i and started to freak out. I got to the whale watch boat, new pair of rain jacket added, but now I couldn't find my camera. I AM NOT GOING TO DO THE WHALE TOUR WITHOUT CAMERA, so here's my stress again. I decided to skip the 13.00 boat, head out tonight then. If I can find the address, there's a punk museum in Reykjavik, only 51 km away. So, the adventure continues. As is my stress. But I don't complain. In Holland we have some hills, but no eternal snow. I've seen tons of eternal snow, lonely mountains, ridges, paths to oblivion, depths of insanity and that sight of the moon next to one particulary cool shaped mountain is a memory of a lifetime, as I thought my mother would have killed to see those colours once in her life. At that time I had The Shavers - Gulle Dijen on speakers, I had to stop, completely overwhelmed. But happy as a slice of grilled bacon in a lovely BLTC. My holidays are not over, oh no.
X5451: Nature is beautiful, just rent a camper next time or bring a tent. Going from B&B to hostel to hotel and finding everything booked sucks.
Herrie: Renting a camper beforehand, that is. Iceland has some majority in (mostly elder) people with campers, see what they charge, fine. But if I do return, it won't be alone. I know, I needed some time alone, and I did, and I loved it, but with someone to talk to it would not have been such a mess all together. Even some Belgian motor-travelling company told me what I suspected: Icelanders are somewhat alienated to other people, in the weirdest way of talking. I recognised that. Icelanders tend to do their own thing, nothing else. One big exception: Dagmar from Svitan Guesthouse, Tùrgata 10 Keflavik. What a great host! Lovely! TAKK!
the rest of the trip is on
http://metal-tavern.proboards.com/threa ... -bloodbath